That weekend found me standing in Rarity’s workroom with her measuring me.

“So darling, I have to ask, how is it that Sunset and you are already in a relationship? I only ask because I care about her, though my actions over the winter might make you doubt that.” She inquired.

“Well, there was a bit of the whole “White Knight Syndrome” thing for a couple of days, but for most of the time before I decided to ask her out, we spent most of the time talking. Sunset shared pretty well everything about her and her past, so I know that she is from Equestria and what lead her to coming here.” I replied. I paused for a moment, and decided that I should tell her about my past as well. “Also, she is not the only one from another world.” I added.

Rarity paused and looked at me. “What do you mean?” She inquired.

“I am from another world as well. Though my coming here was not exactly voluntary. The day I came here, the same day I found Sunset actually, I was killed on my world when World War III broke out.” I replied, causing Rarity to gasp.

“My word, that is horrible!” She exclaimed.

I shrugged. “The way the social and political climate was, something like a full nuclear exchange was pretty much inevitable. Too much distrust between nations and too much hatred against some groups. Add that some of the issues in a few regions hand been going on for a couple of thousand years, things weren't really going to be calming down anytime soon. Having spent the better part of a decade fighting in those regions, I have seen what hate like that can do.” I replied.

“How old were you before you came here? I hate to think that you were some child soldier like what I have heard about on the news.” She asked.

I shook my head. “ No, trust me it is almost impossible to enlist in the military under the age of eighteen unless you have parental permission and they only let you in starting at seventeen with that. I joined up when I graduated high school and spent ten years wearing the uniform as an infantryman. I would have stayed for a full twenty years, but I was tired of the fighting and I was tired of seeing my brothers die.” I said closing my eyes, memories of the battlefield threatening to overwhelm me. I felt a hand touch my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I saw Rarity looking at me over her red rimmed glasses.

“I can’t even begin to comprehend what that was like for you Talisman. But I do know that you should not feel any shame for admitting that you couldn’t do it anymore.” She said.

I gave a tight smile. “Thank you for understanding. As to the answer for your question, I had just turned thirty about a month before everything went down. That and since Sunset is older than she appears as well, we didn’t have the whole teenage awkwardness to deal with. Once we got talking, the whole saviour thing faded. It’s still there, but it is not the driving force. If Sunset had said that she would stay in the spare room at the house until she could find work and get her own place, I would have left it at that and we would have just been roommates. But at some point, I realized that I was getting close to this wonderful woman, that while she needs some help with it, has pulled herself from rock bottom, not just once but twice.” I said. “I think once she is fully healed from this last fall, that she will be stronger than ever.”

Rarity nodded. “She is quite resilient when she has someone to be there for her. I thank you for being that person for her.” She said with a small bow of her head.

I nodded back at her. “I was just doing what was right.” I replied. “Now enough of that depressing stuff. I thought we were doing some designing.” I said with a smile, causing the fashionista to start for a moment before laughing.

“Indeed we were. Now, what colors should we use?” She said to herself as she moved around the workroom pulling out bolts of fabric.

Four hours later, I departed Rarity’s house. Before I left I had handed her an envelope with several hundred dollars in it. She had protested, but I insisted and told her to consider it an initial investment in the boutique that she planned to open after graduation rather than payment for the outfits. That resulted in a shockingly powerful hug from the slender young woman.

However, my current task was not so light hearted. I was currently sitting in a meeting room at the Canterlot Juvenile Hall.

The heavy steel door opened and the guards brought in three young girls and sat them down at the table. I nodded to the guards as they walked out into the hall, closing the door.

The silence was thick in the room as the trio looked at me, curious as to who I was, but too nervous to ask.

“I want to know why you did this.” I said finally.

The trio looked down at the table between us in shame.

“We were jealous.” The redhead, Applebloom if I recalled correctly said.

I stared at the three of them.

“Jealous of what?” I asked.

“Our sisters were spending so much time with Sunset that we never got to see them!” The purple and white haired girl, Sweetie Belle, replied.

“So instead of saying ‘Hey sis, why are you spending so much time with Sunset? I miss hanging out with you.’ You decided to frame her for something that, even when she was the Queen Bitch of the school, she would never have done. At least not so blatantly that it could be tied back to her?” I said incredulously.

The trio hung their heads and began sniffling.

I sighed. “I was hoping that there was a better reason than petty jealousy behind this.” I said. “You three should be thankful that this has been pretty well kept out of the news. Otherwise your families reputations would be trashed. Probably beyond repair.” I added, causing Applebloom and Sweetie Belle’s heads to snap up with wide eyes.

The third girl, Scootaloo, spoke up for the first time. “What would anything we did mean about our families reputations?”

“Maybe because the Apples have a farm that depends upon a reputation of them being fair and trustworthy to keep the farm. Maybe because Rarity plans to open a business after she graduates. Any damage to her reputation now would seriously hinder that. Plus her and Sweetie Belle’s father does work in the financial industry. Something like this could cost him all of his clients. Even your parents would be hurt by it.” I said to the purple haired girl.

“I’m a foster kid. It probably wouldn’t do anything to them.” She said sullenly.

“Ah, well as a foster kid myself, I understand your situation.” I replied. “But that doesn’t mean that you had to go and become another statistic. As far as the school goes, apparently Principal Celestia held and assembly and told the school that the situation was handled and that any kind of reprisal would be dealt with swiftly and harshly. She was quite upset at the situation you three caused. And since she barely batted an eyelash at the mess Sunset caused, you can imagine how pissed off she was.” I said.

The three girls became even more subdued at this.

“Look, I’m not going to beat you up on this any more than I have too. As it stands, you will be lucky to get off with a negligent manslaughter charge from this. You have pretty well screwed over your lives before you even had a chance to get them started. If you have any remorse, you will do everything you can to turn your lives around when you get released. If you are really lucky, the DA might just decide to charge you as juveniles and your records will be sealed unless you do something as an adult. So you might be able to have a decent life. If you do, then take advantage of it and do something productive with your lives.” I said as I stood up and waved at the camera. “Think on it girls. There has been enough heartache over this mess, no need to cause any more.” I said as I exited the room and headed to the exit.

After gathering my belongings from the security desk, I ran into Aegis.

“How did it go?” She asked.

I sighed. “I got the answers I wanted and hopefully got through to them. Time will tell though.” I replied.

Aegis nodded. “Shame really. If they had just talked to their sisters this mess could have been avoided.” She said sadly.

“Yup. But what is done is done. I understand you had a talk with the girl who died’s parents?” I asked.

“Yeah. They wanted to bring a wrongful death suit against all three families and the school. I was able to get them to back down after making them see the hard truth that their reaction to their daughter being a lesbian was what caused her to take her own life. I they had been supportive and not let their bigotry and hatred overrule their love for their daughter, she would still be with them.” She said.

“Spoke from experience I take it?” I asked.

“Yeah. My parents could have cared less when I came out. All they asked was “Are you happy?” and that was enough for them. Amethyst on the other hand hasn’t spoken to her family since they disowned her. But she tries not to let it get to her. She has been talking to the other girl, and she thinks she is getting through to her. But as you said, only time will tell.” She said with a shrug.

I nodded. “Well I think you two are good for each other and I am sure your family loves her.” I said, getting a genuine smile from the woman. I then smirked. “When are you planning to pop the question?” I asked causing her to stumble.

“How did you know?” She asked.

I shrugged. “I pay attention to people. I could see that you two are so head over heels in love with each other that if you two don’t get married, I would be surprised.” I replied.

Aegis smiled. “Well, in that case, wanna be my best man?” She asked.

I was stunned for a moment, before I smiled. “I would be honored. Though you do realize that I would not really be able to perform all of my best man duties since I am a minor right?” I replied. “Can’t exactly take you to a strip club and get you completely plastered if I can’t even get in the door.”

Aegis laughed. “I appreciate the gesture, but no strip clubs for me.”

“‘Lead me not to temptation, I can find it myself?’ then?” I asked.

“Yup.” Aegis replied with a smirk, causing both of us to laugh.

I bid her farewell and headed home.

Reaching home, I found that Sunset was still out job hunting. Since she had gotten her identity papers, she was determined to help around the house.

I grimaced a bit as my stomach twinged. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but I had called and scheduled an appointment for Monday morning. Moving to the kitchen, I began to look for something to make for dinner.

While I was searching, I heard the door open.

“Talisman! I found a job!” I heard Sunset call out.

“Congratulations!” I called back. “Where at?”

“A motorcycle shop. I start next weekend.” She replied as she entered the kitchen.

“That’s great. What are you going to be doing?” I asked, walking out of the pantry.

“Going to be starting as a mechanic. It will be simple things like oil changes and such for a while, but if I stick with it I can take on the more complicated jobs.” She said with a radiant smile.

“Well that sounds like cause for celebration. Sushi?” I asked.

Sunset nodded happily, causing me to chuckle at her exuberance. Grabbing my keys, we headed out to celebrate her new job, and hopefully a rewarding career.

Author's Note

I hope that these chapter addresses somethings that have been brought up in the comments about Talisman and Sunset's relationship. Also, an update on the Crusaders current situation.